Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to everyone! Wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

A cute toddler

With shining eyes. I had fun with his session. He laughed a lot. Isn't natural light photography the best for little kids? They can run around, play with their favorite toys, let mommy and daddy swing him, instead of posing under the bright umbrella light in a small crammed studio. His mom said, he never liked his photographer before, but he liked you. Well said.





I need post more photos from my recent sessions, only if I can find more time. Working hard on my holiday orders. Will post more tomorrow.

Some useful tips for you

1) Light light light, always remember light is the most important element in a picture. Place your kids close to a window, or under the day light. Limit use of flash. I never use flash. I don't like the white out effect.

2) When take pictures for a newborn, remember to remove the mess behind, burp clothes, diaper cream, an unwanted hand... place your newborn on a pretty blanket, preferrably a knitted one. If your newborn is hairless, find a nice cap, again, knitted. A simple magic, find a piece of black fleece blanket place under the baby, or wear black long sleeve when you hold your newborn. Under a good light source, you'll get a "studio like" picture. You'll be amazed how simple things change the look of your picture, if you follow my steps. Let your newborn facing the window light. Their eyes will shine.

3) When you take pictures for your kids, dress them a little bit of different from your usual style, try something look funkish and modern. Try polka dot, stripes, colors.. wrap a shawl around your daughter's shoulder, try a colorful vest for your
boy. And you'll get a surprise in the end. If you always dress your girl in classic pink clothes, try the piggy tails and raspberry color. And get the navy color out. They don't look nice on pictures. For boys, I would do orange, red, and bright green tops with jeans. Clothes is very very important, but don't just dress your kids up, find something casual and fit their personalities.

newborn pictures

I have a special feeling when I take newborn pictures. I simply adore them. Soft, tiny, warm, lovely... I like match them with soft blankets and knitted hats. When they are sleeping, it's simply serenity. When they give you a glimpse, their eyes shine like crystal!

this one from my family session, taken outdoor.


this baby at one month old,


and almost two months old, we can already prop his head up!

"no cheese" laughters

I just did this big family session last weekend. And she's supposed to be the hardest one because of her age. Yeah, hiding behind her mom, not looking at me while I take the group shots.... Her mom said to me, she's only 2. What can you expect?
Yes, I know, this age is supposed to be the hardest.... Yeah, you suppose to get tons of blurred pictures because of their speed, and even if they're still, they don't bother to give you a glimpse.

Yet in the end, she's the only one showed the truliest laughters. Isn't it amazing?
Toddlers, they are so natural. When they are happy, they ARE happy.





I want to reiterate my style here, I don't like parents saying cheese behind me. Cheese is not my style. Last week my daughter had school photo day, which the photographer made them say cheese for virtually 5 minutes. I know I won't buy that picture. If I want a laughter, I capture a true splendid one.

my little one is turning into 3

next week. Bye bye the not so terrible "terrible two". She's been wonderful the last year. Very easy to be with. Except when I ask her to pose for me, of course.

Well, one year closer to the age they really really like modeling for big cameras.

Funny one day she came back from school and told me her teacher didn't take her pictures and she was sad. I said, wait a minute, you don't like mommy taking your pictures. The surprising reply was, mommy, your camera is black, teacher's camera is silver, I like silver color. Oops, is that the real reason she doesn't like me photographing her?? Then Nikon should provide a silver case, or maybe a pink one.

For her birthday, she's getting a real digital camera(vtech). That'll be a blast.

She's asking for a "turn" to type her words, so here it is - [tt5ty[y[67p-py[ypuy76ptt

maternity leave

Some news to announce. I'm currently pregnant with our second child. I'll be taking a maternity leave from Dec 1, 2007 til June 1, 2008. All holiday bookings must be made before Nov 1st, 2007. I'm currently booked for September unless there're cancellations.

Thanks!

new baby arrived

Congrats to my client and friend J. She had her second baby. Next weekend, we'll be shooting a newborn session.

Here are some pictures from her maternity session.






What a lovely family! I love actions.

Five beautiful kids

I photographed this family last weekend. They are the sweetest I've ever seen. So easy to work with. They also have a huge swimming pool in the back yard. Here are some sneak previews.

family portraits at wayside inn

I recently photographed this beautiful family at the famous Wayside inn. The grandparents(how young they look!) flew here from Michigan. May is a good month for family reunion. It was a nice, relaxing session. The kids cooperated very well. Mom used some tricks to make them chuckling like crazy. I'll borrow the tricks for my sessions later. Thanks!

My new website is LIVE!!

After several days of hard working, my new website is live!!! Special thanks to bludomain, they are awesome. They offer the top notch products. Very creative.

When I worked on my website portfolio, I'm amazed again, how beautiful these children are! I want to take this opportunity to thank my past clients for me to use their adorable kids' pictures on my website. Thanks for your support and business.

I want to introduce some new features of this website that will benefit you.

The client proofing section allows you to view session images directly on my website, yes, dangling thumbnails too. With music. And best of all, when you feel you're ready to order, you can click on "add to favorites" to add the images your like to the shopping cart. Just like any shopping on internet. After you're done with picking images, you click on "order" to start the ordering process. It's very simple and straightforward. Your order form will be sent to me.

The sample guest gallery features the pictures of my various boutique products. It's still under construction. Check later for more pictures. I'll take pictures of session album, coffee table book, gallery canvas and standout framee, etc.

The calendar and events section allows you to view my schedules and check availabilites online.

Enjoy the new website. And forward to whoever you think might be interested in my service. When you refer a friend, and your friend comes to me for a full session, you'll receive $50 off your next session fee.

Thanks!

I won a photo contest

I won a photo contest by Blu domain, the company designed websites for almost every professional photographers I know, including some well-known photogs. Here is the link,
search myangphoto, and you'll find my picture.

So I won a free professionally designed website template. In the near future, my website will have a complete makeover with new pictures and better layout. Stay tuned.

update of my website

I have updated my website today. Lots of new pictures. I was browsing my old pictures today, and wow, I got so many NICE ones I've never had a chance posting on my website. So crop, crop and upload. Take a look when you have time. Let me know if you like it.

Spring is coming, yeah! I'm booking for the flower blooming season. In my mind, probably the best time of the year(of course I didn't forget about the splendid fall we have here). The light green color look great on pictures.

Clothes suggestion? Rainboots. Colorful rainboots. Stripe tights. Tees. Shorts. Jeans. Easter dresses. Thanks god winter is behind.

don't you love his hair?

This Australian boy has the blondest(is there a word like this? :) ) hair I have ever seen. Shining light light yellow soft hair. Envy. Came from a country with all black dark hair, you can imagine how much I crave for blonde hair. Even Natalie said, I like L's golden hair.





I also posted some pictures from the session on my main website.

love my camera

I start to love my new camera. I just found out yesterday I set my camera on the wrong white balance following wrong advice, all pictures came out bloody yellow. Now I'm enjoying the colors and details I get.

Some pictures of Miss Natalie. When this little thing cooperates.....only if...sigh

she's a toddler

Before I left for Mexico, I did a session for Natalie's little friend. She was a sweet baby all the time, but suddenly turned into a toddler. How fast they grow!

One thing to complain about toddler age, yeah, they are not camera friendly. Every parent knows it. They move constantly, they talk a lot, they protest everything you want them to do.....

But they are the cutest, aren't they?

vacation thoughts

We have come back from Mexico. Warm weather there. In the 80's. Compared to Boston's single digit arctic cold....

The resort we stayed at is just gorgeous. It's ocean front, 5 swimming pools, luxury tropical settings all around. Natalie and I had great time when my husband was busy with his conference. We swimmed every day. At sunset time we walked on the beach. We saw swans, peacocks, flamingos in the garden. And we had exotic buffet every day.

But everything couldn't stop her from missing home. Funny when we left from Boston, as soon as we arrived at the airport, she started saying I wanted to go home. And every day she repeated "mom, can we go home? I want to play my trains, I want to eat .... "(something she misses a lot, I don't know what it is). She loves beach, loves swimming, but still her heart was in Boston.

Honestly I missed home too. The tropical weather is pleasant, certainly compares to Boston's single digit, but something is missing there. Surpisingly in the end I concluded living in a place like that is boring. No change of weather, no change of scenery, no change of clothes styles. No pom pom hats, no furry sweaters, no fall foliage, no colorful pumpkins, only T shirts and skirts and bikinis. I love hats, blankets, tights in my pictures. I love the difference of four seasons.

Fortunately, the second day we came back home, we got snow! Natalie loves playing in the snow. More than swimming in the pool. :)

new pictures

of Natalie. She's finally cooperative. And I got tons tons of her pictures this month. Mostly laughing. How? Before I click for any photo, let her hold my camera and take few shots. She aims at ceiling, wall, rug...and every time she clicks twice(consumes my battery like hell). She also knows I use back button(AF/L) to focus. So before she clicks the shutter button, she presses the back button! My heart stops beating every time she touches my expensive equipment, talking about thousands of dollars in a 2 year old's hands. In exchange, I got the pictures I want.

It's not difficult to get laughing pictures. A tip here for parents, let them run like crazy. Catch them in the middle and click click click. Those laughters are the best.

On the other hand, it's always difficult to capture "soul" pictures. Serious, tranquil look. Those are what I look for. And those are the classics last lifetime long.

out for vacation

I'll be out of town from Jan 15 to Jan 20th. I won't be able to answer phone during these days. I will check emails sparingly however.

We'll be on the beach in a week, how exciting. On the other hand, Boston is not cold either.

new camera

I got my new Nikon today. It totally blew my old one away. So easy to use, faster, crispier, smoother, bokeh is better. My old one feels like a toy compared to the new one.

I'll put my old camera to rest. These are the last few pictures of natalie out of it.

A true christmas gift

to a family is a newborn boy! I did the maternity session for the mom back in November and here the boy comes. Oh he's so cute. Big blue eyes. And at 9 days old, he could lift his head and change directions when lying on his tummy! Isn't it amazing?

This blanket I got is so "photogenic". I'm always hunting for cute furry blankets.
I have collected countless blankets so far. And hats. My obession with things look nice on photos. :)





Congrats to the mom & dad again!

first snow and fun

We had snow! Gosh, I was so excited when I saw the white snow flakes dancing outside of our window. But it was a bad day for my family. We were all sick from stomach flu. Yeah, sick on new year eve. Had to stay inside while outside was so so so gorgeous.

The next day, the first thing in the morning, we stepped out and played in the snow, and of course, tons of photos for miss Natalie.

She had so much fun. Me too. Probably the easiest photo session I had with her for a long long time. Until the next snow....